Spectral feature-based identification of substances

Abstract

A spectroscopic identification method and system are provided that uses the primary or main spectroscopic features of a source, such as those as arising from chemical functional groups, to describe and distinguish the source. These primary spectroscopic features make up a portion (i.e., are a subset) of the entire spectroscopic data for a particular source but can nevertheless be used as the basis of separating spectra from multiple source. When analyzing spectroscopic data obtained from a sample for one or more sources, the analysis first focuses on the primary spectroscopic features for a source rather than the entire spectra for a source.

1. A method comprising:
 for at least one source, identifying primary spectral features of source spectroscopic data obtained for at least one source; 
 storing data describing the primary spectral features of the at least one source; 
 first analyzing sample spectroscopic data obtained for a sample with respect to said data describing the primary spectral features of the at least one source to determine whether the sample spectroscopic data contains the primary spectral features for the at least one source; 
 generating a reduced relevant library spectra by eliminating from further consideration a source whose primary spectral features are determined not be present in the sample spectroscopic data; and 
 second analyzing said sample spectroscopic data with respect to the reduced relevant library spectra in order to identify one or more sources present in the sample. 
 
   
   
     2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein said identifying comprises analyzing the source spectroscopic data for the at least one source to determine one or more spectral features that are a subset of said source spectroscopic data. 
   
   
     3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein said identifying comprises identifying primary spectral features of source spectroscopic data for the at least one source that is a substance of interest whose presence is desired to be determined in the sample spectroscopic data, and said second analyzing comprises analyzing the sample spectroscopic data to identify one or more substances of interest that are present in the sample. 
   
   
     4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein said identifying comprises identifying primary spectral features of the at least one source that is an object of interest whose presence is desired to be determined in the sample spectroscopic data that represents an image of a scene, and said second analyzing comprises analyzing the sample spectroscopic data to identify one or more objects of interest that are present in the image. 
   
   
     5. A method comprising:
 for each of a plurality of substances, identifying primary spectral features in spectroscopic data for each the plurality of substances; 
 storing data describing the primary spectral features for each of the plurality of substances; 
 first analyzing sample spectroscopic data obtained for a sample with respect to said data describing the primary spectral features of each of the plurality of substances to determine whether the sample spectroscopic data contains the primary spectral features for any of the plurality of substances; 
 generating a reduced relevant library spectra by eliminating from further consideration one or more substances whose primary spectral features are determined not to be present in the sample spectroscopic data; and 
 second analyzing said sample spectroscopic data with respect to the reduced relevant library spectra in order to identify one or more substances present in the sample based on said sample spectroscopic data. 
 
   
   
     6. The method of  claim 5 , wherein said identifying comprises analyzing spectroscopic data for each of the substances to determine one or more spectral features for each substance that are a subset of the spectroscopic data for the corresponding substance. 
   
   
     7. A computer readable storage medium encoded with instructions, that when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform functions that analyze sample spectroscopic data for a sample to separate spectral data for at least one source from the sample spectroscopic data, the functions comprising:
 first analyzing the sample spectroscopic data obtained for a sample with respect to data describing primary spectral features for the at least one source to determine whether the sample spectroscopic data contains the primary spectral features for the at least one source; 
 generating a reduced relevant library spectra by eliminating from further consideration a source whose primary spectral features are determined not to be present in the sample spectroscopic data; and 
 second analyzing said sample spectroscopic data with respect to the reduced relevant library spectra in order to identify one or more sources present in the sample. 
 
   
   
     8. The computer readable storage medium of  claim 7 , wherein said instructions for said first analyzing comprise instructions for analyzing the sample spectroscopic data with respect to said data describing the primary spectral features which are a subset of spectroscopic data for the at least one source. 
   
   
     9. The computer readable storage medium of  claim 7 , wherein said instructions for said second analyzing comprise instructions for analyzing the sample spectroscopic data to identify the at least one source that is a substance of interest in said sample. 
   
   
     10. The computer readable storage medium of  claim 7 , wherein said instructions for said second analyzing comprise instructions for analyzing the sample spectroscopic data to identify the at least one source that is an object of interest in the sample, wherein the sample spectroscopic data represents an image of a scene. 
   
   
     11. A system for analyzing sample spectroscopic data for a sample to separate spectral data for at least one source from the sample spectroscopic data, comprising:
 a spectroscopic detector that is configured to detect scattered energy from a sample and to generate sample spectroscopic data representing said detected scattered energy; 
 a processor connected to the spectroscopic detector, wherein the processor is configured to:
 first analyze the sample spectroscopic data with respect to data describing primary spectral features for the at least one source to determine whether the sample spectroscopic data contains the primary spectral features for the at least one source; 
 generate a reduced relevant library spectra by eliminating from further consideration a source whose primary spectral features are determined not to be present in the sample spectroscopic data; and 
 second analyze said sample spectroscopic data with respect to the reduced relevant library spectra in order to identify one or more sources present in the sample. 
 
 
   
   
     12. The system of  claim 11 , wherein the processor is configured to first analyze said sample spectroscopic data with respect to data describing the primary spectral features which are a subset of spectroscopic data for the at least one source. 
   
   
     13. The system of  claim 11 , wherein the processor is configured to perform said second analyzing to identify the at least one source that is a substance of interest in said sample. 
   
   
     14. The system of  claim 11 , wherein the processor is configured to perform said second analyzing to identify the at least one source that is an object of interest in the sample that represents an image of a scene.